We've spent most of the last 20 years in Europe, the bulk of our time in Stockholm, Sweden. A year in London, England and a year in Paris, France have been ours to enjoy as well. Our US home is in Desert Hot Springs, CA where we have landed for the time being.

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Monday, August 4, 2014

A Great Week of Summer Fun

It has been a good week in the Fondell household. We've had good friends in town visiting from the US and we've enjoyed being together with their adorable 7 year old daughter. We've continued to have great weather so we've been able to get out on our boat and enjoy some picnics with many different sets of friends. I even got back on the tube!So did Jim, Cathy, and Kajsa!

The boat provides a great way to spend time with people which is one of the things I love about summer...a more relaxed pace allows for the space to actually spend time with people. So in the past week, in addition to the three boat picnics, I shared a long conversation with a dear woman from church around a pint of Ben and Jerry's Karamel Sutra and enjoyed a fun, relaxed evening at home around a table filled with grilled sausages, corn on the cob and a wonderful salad with our friends from the US and another good US friend who lives here. Their daughter's name is Kajsa, a distinctly Swedish name but you can imagine that she doesn't find it written on things very often in the US but here in Sweden, it's pretty popular so we found this Coke Bottle for her! Her dad also discovered that it was her name's day here in Sweden so an added bonus! The day of our picnic was only the second day they'd been here. Fresh air, swimming and jet lag took their toll on the way back in!
In addition to our standard spot south of Stockholm, we added two new spots to stop and enjoy. One was in the Djurgården canal, which is in the heart of the city! Fun to drop anchor, pull in, swim, grill, and enjoy nature from the center of Stockholm!

The other is an island we've been to before but had not been to for awhile. The perfect place for evening sun, eating, swimming.

In addition to the company, the weather continues to dazzle even as the days are waning. This is about 8.30 p.m. now.It is now dark by about 10.00 pm and we need to be pulling into the marina around 9.00 pm to get things buttoned up before dusk sets in. But that means that the sunsets coming in are just spectacular. And the air remains warm and humid so no need for even a sweater! An added bonus is the position of the sun and moon right now. Sunset on one side. Moon rising on the other.

Just breathtaking.

Last night I stepped on a hot coal from the bbq which did not feel good so for much of the way in I sat on the front of the boat and dangled my feet in the water. The cool water felt good on the seared area and it was so relaxing to listen to the boat cutting through the water.

(Foot is fine this morning).

These are the times I treasure...time well spent with dear friends in a spectacular setting.
(Thanks for Cathy for some of these great photos.)